Process of manufacturing boot and shoe lasts.



ELTENT OFFICE.

ALOIS LOR'ANT, OF BUDAPEST, AUSTRIA-HUNGARY.

PROCESS OF MANUFACTURING BOOT AND SHOE LASTS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Nov. 28, 1905.

Original application filed December 26, 1902, Serial No. 136,635. Divided and this application filed January 21, 1904.

' SerialNo. 190,088.

f0 (1 whont it non/y concern:

Be it known that I, ALoIs LORANT, a subject of the King of Austria-Hungary, residing at Budapest, Austria-Hungary, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Processes of Manufacturing Boot and Shoe Lasts; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

As is Well known, most boots and shoes are only approximately of the real shape and size of the foot. The result of this is that the toes become deformed and blisters, bunions, corns, and other ills make their appearance. Attempts have already been made to overcome these inconveniences by producing lasts of the exact natural shape of the foot, allowance being made, if necessary, for corns and other tender places or swellings.

My process differs from such prior methods, inasmuch as I apply various corrections to the foot before making a copy or mold to serve either directly for the last or as a model or pattern from which the last can be made. I find such corrections necessary, since in walking the foot, even in the best-fitting shoe,

' foot will for the reasons stated leave such recesses and by pressing on the rising walls of the latter and the like will give rise to blisters, bunions, corns, and the like.

My new process is as follows: Under the sole of the foot covered by a stocking a correspondingly-shaped plate of leather, metal, celluloid, or other suitable material is placed, while upon the point of the foot is placed a cap of leather or other material corresponding to the form which it is desired that the boot or shoe shall receive, such cap being, if necessary, attached to the sole-plate. Upon the foot thus prepared is then fitted a second elastic stocking, when it is ready to serve as model for the last to be produced. If the foot should have specially-tender parts, suitablyhollowed pads or washers may be placed thereon before drawing on the elastic stocking. Such pads or washers may be of felt, paper material, &c., saturated with a liquid, such'as glycerin, which will not dry in the air. The foot thus prepared then serves as a model from which a last may be prepared. For this purpose a hollow mold is formed of the foot by inclosing it with gypsum, wax, an easilyfusible metal, or other suitable material, which hollow mold after removal from the foot serves for the production of the actual last. For example, a model may be cast in the mold and such model employed as copy for producing the last.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new is l. The process for producing a boot or shoe last,- which consists in shaping a plate to the curvature required of the last, covering the foot with a stocking, fitting said plate to the sole of the stocking-covered foot, placing caps on the foot at places required to be made larger in the last, fitting an elastic stocking over the so-prepared foot, then making a matrix therefrom, and lastly preparing a positive mold or last from such matrix.

2. The process for producing a boot or shoe last, corresponding correctly to the form of the foot, which consists in firstly, shaping a plate to the curvature required of the last, secondly, fitting said plate to the sole of the foot; thirdly, fitting on the point of the foot a cap having the required configuration of the point of the boot or shoe; fourthly, placing caps or coverings on any tender part of the foot; fifthly, fitting a stocking or covering over the foot so prepared; and lastly, making a copy of the foot so prepared, substantially as described.

3. The process for producing a boot or shoe last, corresponding correctly to the form of the'foot, which consists in firstly, shaping a .plate to the curvature required of the last,

secondly fitting said plate to the sole of the foot; thirdly, fitting on the point of the foot a cap having the required configuration of the point of the boot or shoe; fourthly, placing caps or coverings on any tender part of the foot; fifthly, fitting a stocking or covering over the foot so prepared; and sixthly, surrounding the foot by means of gypsum or wax, or easily-fusible metal, sand, cement, or the like, so as to prepare a hollow mold thereof; and lastly preparing a positive mold from such hollow mold, substantially as described.

4. The process of preparing lasts from the human foot, consisting in covering the foot.

with an elastic stocking, shaping a plate of suitable material to correspond to the shape In testimony that I claim the foregoing as of the expanded foot, placing said plate bemy invention I have signed my name in pres- I O neath the foot, attaching a toe-cap to the foot ence of two subscribing Witnesses.

and to said plate, fitting pads on the foot at points to be made larger in the last, covering ALOIS LORANT' the so-prepared foot with an elastic stocking, Witnesses:

making a matrix therefrom, and then casting ARTHUR B. VINGERT,

a last or positive mold from said matrix. LOUIS VANDORN. 

